Ask HN: Can you legally own a domain, or only lease?

#1

Post by patrickw » Wed, Dec 28, 2011, 3:05 AM UTC

Gandi.net claims that you actually own, not lease, a domain name you register with them:

http://iwi.gandibar.net/post/2008/10/20/Who-is-Gandi-and-why-should-I-care-about-them

However, Wikipedia:

"...this transaction is termed a sale or lease of the domain name, and the registrant may sometimes be called an 'owner', but no such legal relationship is actually associated with the transaction, only the exclusive right to use the domain name."

Can you own a domain name in a legal sense? Or, are there any contractual reasons to prefer one registrar over another?

Re: Ask HN: Can you legally own a domain, or only lease?

#2

Post by dangrossman » Wed, Dec 28, 2011, 1:04 PM UTC

They are just describing the practice of a minority of registrars to put their own contact info in the WHOIS registrant info instead of your contact info. Gandi isn't a big exception here, that's not standard practice.

Beyond that, there's not much to discuss. The semantics aren't that important, whether you 'own' or 'lease' the name doesn't change the fact that you get the name for a limited time only, attached to a contract that restricts what you can do with it and allows the registry to take the name back under various circumstances.

Re: Ask HN: Can you legally own a domain, or only lease?

#3

Post by pawn » Wed, Dec 28, 2011, 6:15 PM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #2

They are just describing the practice of a minority of registrars to put their own contact info in the WHOIS registrant info instead of your contact info. Gandi isn't a big exception here, that's not standard practice. Beyond that, there's not much to discuss. The semantics aren't that important, whether you 'own' or 'lease' the name doesn't change the fact that you get the name for a limited time only, attached to a…

I've recently been wondering if there might be a way to actually own a domain such that I'm not paying someone else a monthly/yearly fee.

I've seen those "premium" domain names that you have to pay $1,000 for and thought "If I bought that, would that be it? I get it forever?"

I haven't really looked into it closely yet, but would be interested to know.

Re: Ask HN: Can you legally own a domain, or only lease?

#4

Post by dangrossman » Wed, Dec 28, 2011, 10:44 PM UTC

pawn wrote: post #3

dangrossman wrote: post #2

They are just describing the practice of a minority of registrars to put their own contact info in the WHOIS registrant info instead of your contact info. Gandi isn't a big exception here, that's not standard practice. Beyond that, there's not much to discuss. The semantics aren't that important, whether you 'own' or 'lease' the name doesn't change the fact that you get the name for a limited time only, attached to a…

I've recently been wondering if there might be a way to actually own a domain such that I'm not paying someone else a monthly/yearly fee. I've seen those "premium" domain names that you have to pay $1,000 for and thought "If I bought that, would that be it? I get it forever?" I haven't really looked into it closely yet, but would be interested to know.

No, that's just someone reselling a domain.

There is no way to own a domain forever with one payment. You can prepay at most 10 years.